online homeschoolWhen you begin to teach in a homeschool class you set yourself some goals, and these need to be reviewed. Each skill that you need to teach your homeschooling student can be broken down into manageable goals. As you meet each individual goal you can measure up the progress that you have made and just how much more work you need to put in. So how do you set your homeschool goals?

All Goals Don’t Need to be Long Drawn and Specific

In every grade the homeschool student needs to be able to master certain skills by the end of the academic year. For instance multiplication in math class can be divided into goals such as learning tables from 1 to 10. Then single digit multiplication sums, followed by double digit multiplication and so on. In English you could start with sentence formation and move on to writing paragraphs and finally whole essays. You just need to have the end goal in mind and then work on the basic skills through the year. Don’t drive yourself crazy by setting weekly goals for every skill.

Goals Do Need a Logical Sequence

Just like your baby needs to learn to stand before he can walk, some skills need to be taught before others. In case of math you will add before you subtract, then multiply before you divide. Each skill set learned becomes the basis of the next set to be introduced to the homeschool student. For this reason your goals need to follow a logical sequence, just as you can’t teach an experiment without explaining the theory as well. of course in some cases doing the experiment first may stimulate more curiosity about why things works that way!

Goals Should Include a Reward

As you meet each individual goal you have set for yourself in the homeschool classroom, don’t forget to reward yourself and your students. You can have special rewards set for specific goals as a motivational tool for the students. Finish a specific skill set and you get to take a fun field trip. Or play a favorite game, the reward does not have to involve spending any money, but must provide value to the child.